What to do with immigrants who are not asylum seekers

The flow in people from the developing world to the affluent West is provoked by the vast gap in standards of living. Migration has now grown to epic proportions. Every week, thousands of beleaguered people, packed like sardines into rotting boats or onto trucks, risk everything for a better life.

The response which the European Union has adopted is unfortunately made up of half measures. Illegal entry is blocked but, once illegal migrants succeed in entering, then they are allowed to stay. This contradictory practice fuels the phenomenon and gives rise to more human-trafficking rings.

The first step Europe needs to take is clarifying the distinction between asylum seekers and economic migrants. In the case of the latter, the only responsible solution is immediate deportation, combined with pressure on the countries of origin, such as Libya, for example, to accept them back and deport them in turn.

The European Union has recently offered Libya €20 million in order to cope with growing illegal migration, whilst Italy agreed with Libya last month to carry out joint maritime patrols and improve deportation procedures.

Unfortunately, in our case, our EU partners have not put in practice the principles of solidarity and fair burden sharing. Readmission agreements between the EU and key countries of origin and transit in Africa, the Near and Middle East and elsewhere, have not been concluded, and are now an urgent necessity.

Frontex has to be strengthened in order to have a continuation of joint operations. The agency should be provided with the necessary financial resources and member states should provide the committed necessary resources. Moreover, other member states should shoulder part of the burden by assuming the long-term responsibility for some of the persons rescued in third-country waters or search and rescue areas.

The Maltese foreign affairs team and all MEPs must, besides urging the Commission to keep up its momentum in relation to intra-EU reallocation, urge the other member states to consider also the reallocating of beneficiaries of international protection from small states, such as Malta, which is facing specific and disproportionate pressures due to its geographical and/or demographic circumstances.